NOTES (12/18/00):

* reflects the 0.22 percent general reduction provided in the Omnibus Bill.

NOTES (11/16/00):

The Senate cleared its version of the Commerce-Justice-State bill, which includes funding for NOAA, and a conference report for the bill was attached to the DC bill. The President has announced he will veto this bill. When Congress returns on December 5th, the CJS bill will most likely be wrapped up in an omnibus bill.

NOTES (10/27/00):

The House passed the CJS conference report on Thursday, October 26. The vote was 206-198, with most of the votes against cast by Democrats. The bill now goes to the Senate. The President has threatened to veto the bill because it excludes language on immigration, tobacco litigation, hate crime legislation and Social Security privacy.

Although the overall number for NOAA appears to be quite good, the 12.7% increase reflects numerous earmarks. The OAR numbers, in fact, are very disappointing. The big winner within OAR was the Marine Prediction Research program, which received a $5 million increase over FY 2000. Also worth noting, as the CJS bill was one of the last bills to be marked up, money ran out for the conferees to work with.

Excerpts from the conference report:

Within OAR's Interannual and Seasonal Climate Research:

$2,000,000 is for the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space.

Within OAR's Climate and Global Change Research:

$750,000 is above base resources for the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction to restore it to the FY 2000 appropriated level of funding;

$1,000,000 is for the variability beyond ENSO activity;

$1,000,000 is for the climate forming agents activity;

$2,000,000 is for the refinement of climate models.

Within OAR's Climate Observations & Services (a new line item):

$1,000,000 for climate data and information;

$2,000,000 for baseline ovservations;

$5,000,000 for ocean observations;

$3,000,000 for the climate reference network;

$1,250,000 for an ice research program at the Thayer School of Engineering.

Within OAR's Long-term Climate and Air Quality Research:

$27,850,000 for base activities;

$500,000 for the California ozone study;

$4,669,000 for the Health of the Atmosphere initiative.

Within OAR's Atmospheric Programs:

$1,000,000 for research related to wind-profile data;

$1,500,000 for the U.S. Weather Research Program for hurricane-related research;

$350,000 for the Science Center for Teaching, Outreach and Research on Meteorology (STORM) for the collection and analysis of weather data in the midwest.

Within NWS's Local Warnings and Forecasts:

$452,280,000 for base activities;

$4,790,000 for mitigation activities;

$400,000 for the Cooperative Observers Network;

$270,000 for the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network;

$590,000 for the University of Utah for support to the Winter Olympics;

$2,500,000 for the Center for Spatial Data Research at Jackson State University;

$15,700,000 to continue the multi-year program of climate database modernization and utilization;

$2,900,000 for the Regional Climate Centers.

Under Program Support, Minority Serving Institutions received $15,000,000 (request was $17 million).

NOTES (10/17/00):

The conferees working on the Commerce, Justice, State bill, which funds NOAA, have not been able to reach an agreement over this bill. This is due to disagreement over issues involving the Justice and State; funding is not an issue. It is being reported that the final numbers for NOAA will be close to the Senate marks listed above.

NOTES (6/26/00):

It is being reported on the Hill that the House cuts to NOAA were not the result of Congressional displeasure with the agency, but rather were the result of the extremely low allocation ($5 billion below FY00). In addition, the Commerce, Justice, State Subcommittee did not fund any new starts throughout request.

The House did fund satellite acquisition and slightly increased the Weather Service (ORF), which under these conditions is actually quite remarkable. Over the last few years, the House has traditionally put more money in other programs, knowing the Senate would trade for increased funding for NOAA. This year's allocation simply made the House position appear even worse than usual.